Different shows, different stories: How German TV formats challenged the government’s framing of the Ukraine crisis

Abstract

In a complex information environment, the Ukraine crisis became a litmus test for the German government’s capacity to legitimate its international crisis management in Ukraine and in confrontations with Russia. This study investigates crisis coverage in the pluralized German television system and how it is shaped by trends of infotainment and globalization. It asks how different TV formats framed the Ukraine crisis and challenged or approved governmental crisis policy. Comparing the framing of the Ukraine crisis between March 2014 and December 2015 in German government communication, public service newscast Tagesschau, Russian foreign broadcaster’s newscast Der Fehlende Part (RT Deutsch) and seven infotainment programs (talk shows and satirical shows), the findings reveal essential limitations for the indexing thesis. All TV formats substantially differed in their depiction of the crisis according to their respective format conventions. Whereas public service news mainly reflected governmental frames, the foreign and infotainment formats challenged the legitimacy of German crisis policy.